John Fox Jr. (1862–1919)

“….and then he veered to something lively, singing words that she could barely hear:

        Chickens a-crowin' on Sourwood Mountain,
        Heh-o-dee-um-dee-eedle-dahdy-dee!
        Git yo' dogs an' wwe'll go huntin',
        Heh-o-dee-um-dee-eedle-dahdy-dee!”

It had the darky's rhythm and the darky's way of dropping into the minor on the third line, while the swing of the last was like the far-away winding of a horn, and it was to ring in her ears for years to come….”
[Fox, The Kentuckians, Pt.II, Harper's New Monthly, Vol. XCV, No. DLXV, June, 1897, p.360]


“Fact is stranger, Abe Shivers had got Jeb a leetle disguised by liquer, an' he did look fat an' sassy, ef he couldn't talk, a-settin' over in the corner a-plinkin' the banjer an' a-knockin' off “Sour-wood Mountain” an' “Jinny git aroun'” an' “Soapsuds over the Fence.”

“Chickens a-crown' on Sour-wood Mountain,
        Heh-o-dee-um-dee-eedy-dahdy-dee!
Git yo' dawgs an' we'll go huntin',
        Heh-o-dee-um-dee-eedy-dahdy-dee!”

An' when Jeb comes to

“I've got a gal at the head o' the holler,
        Heh-o-dee-um-dee-eedy-dahdy-dee!”

he jes turns one eye 'round on Polly ann, an' then swings his chin aroun' as though he didn't give a cuss fer nothin'.

“She won't come, an' I won't foller,
        Heh-o-dee-um-dee-eedy-dahdy-dee!”
[Hell Fer Sartain, Fox, 1897]